Problem 7 – the snake’s head acceleration

The head of a snake can move with acceleration 50 m/s² when striking a victim. How long it would take for a car to reach velocity 100 km/h, if it could accelerate as well as a snake’s head.

a_s = 50 m/s²  - acceleration of snake’s head,

v =100 km/h   - velocity which should be reach,

t = ?                -  time required to reach this velocity

Basic equation to be used,

 

v = v₀ + at   (1)            

We consider the motion with initial velocity v₀=0, so we have

v = at         (2)

and solving it we get

t = v/a        (3)

Now we express velocity in m/s

100 km/h = 100 * 1000 m / 3600 s = 27.78 m/s

and substituting this value and value for a_s into Eq. 3 

we get

t = 0.556 s

This time is about 18 times shorter then such time (about 10.0 s) for a very good car. The snake can accelerate its head much better, then the best sports car.

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